This invention relates to a method of detecting escape or spillage of a cold liquid. The invention also concerns apparatus which can be used to perform the method.
Certain substances which are gases at normal ambient pressure and temperature are cooled and liquefied to render them easier to handle or transport. Such substances may be valuable so that if there is undetected escape or spillage financial loss can occur. Also or alternatively, the inadvertent release of such a substance into the atmosphere during an escape or spillage can create a dangerous condition in which a toxic and/or smothering and/or explosive cloud or blanket of the substance in gaseous form can develop.
One such substance is liquefied natural gas, and the invention particularly, though not exclusively, concerns a method of detecting escape or spillage of liquefied natural gas.